Visma | Lease a Bike loses top talent surprisingly to Decathlon AG2R, which presents pimped-out 2025 team

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale has already officially presented its selection for 2025. The French team will see the departure of its leader Ben O'Connor (to Team Jayco-AlUla), but in return, it gains a top talent from Visma | Lease a Bike. Johannes Staune-Mittet (22) is making a surprising move, given that his contract with the Dutch team runs until the end of 2026.

So far, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale had not introduced any big names. Only the promotion of Noa Isidore, Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen, Léo Bisiaux, Oscar Chamberlain, and Paul Seixas from the development team had been announced. Besides O'Connor, other outgoing transfers include Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-Quick Step), Valentin Retailleau (TotalEnergies), and Damien Touzé (Cofidis). Edvald Boasson Hagen is retiring from professional cycling.

There were still gaps to fill, and those incoming names were announced one by one through Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale's official website on Wednesday at 11:00 AM. Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost), Callum Scotson (Jayco-AlUla), and Tord Gudmestad (Uno-X) have signed until the end of 2026. Staune-Mittet was the only one offered a three-year contract. Additionally, several contract extensions were confirmed: Stan Dewulf and Nicolas Prodhomme signed on for another two years, until the end of 2026. Pierre Gautherat and Aurélien Paret-Peintre, like Staune-Mittet, are contracted until the end of 2027.

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Johannes Staune-Mittet

Why is Staune-Mittet leaving Visma | Lease a Bike for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale?

The arrival of Staune-Mittet is, of course, the most striking, given his ongoing contract with Visma | Lease a Bike. The young Norwegian won the 2023 Giro NextGen and in 2024, as a neo-pro, was part of the WorldTour team of the Dutch squad. He is already choosing a different path. "This project gives me a great opportunity to improve myself in the best possible way. I chose Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale to continue making progress. I want to become the best rider I can be, although in the short term that will still be in support of our team leaders. If the opportunity arises, I hope to achieve good results myself."

With this, there are now thirty names on the team sheet for the French team, which performed excellently in 2024 with no less than thirty wins, and recently secured second place for O'Connor in the Vuelta and the World Championships. For 2025, familiar names like Sam Bennett, Benoît Cosnefroy, Felix Gall, Victor Lafay, Oliver Naesen, and Andrea Vendrame are also on the list.

Selection Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale 2025

Bruno Armirail
Sam Bennett
Clément Berthet
Léo Bisiaux
Stefan Bissegger
Geoffrey Bouchard
Oscar Chamberlain
Benoît Cosnefroy
Dries de Bondt
Sander De Pestel
Stan Dewulf
Felix Gall
Pierre Gautherat
Dorian Godon
Tord Gudmestad
Jordan Labrosse
Victor Lafay
Paul Lapeira
Oliver Naesen
Aurélien Paret-Peintre
Nans Peters
Gianluca Pollefliet
Nicolas Prodhomme
Callum Scotson
Paul Seixas
Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen
Johannes Staune-Mittet
Bastien Tronchon
Noa Isidore
Andrea Vendrame

The calendar for the new cyclo-cross season is now online! Check it out here. Or check out our general calendars for the remainder of the season for the men and women's races.

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